Shanghai Disneyland will close in effort to contain coronavirus

I can't tell if you're being serious. I hope you're not.

Jeff said:

Closing K-12 would be a colossal mistake with unintended consequences. Healthcare workers can't work because they're watching their kids, who by most accounts are they least vulnerable.

Not only did my university (Mount Union) make the choice to go remote today, but the signs are there that our local school is also, at the very least, in prep for it. Our youngest (2nd grade) came home with a Chromebook today...something they don't get issued until 4th grade. It was accompanied by a short note detailing the school's preparations.

I suspect suburban folks can figure it out, but poor communities where lunch is the only hot meal is a different story.

The local librarian and I had this exact same discussion today. In our own hometown, local churches, the Rotary, the YMCA, and other organizations are already working on plans to help kids for whom going to school is the best trip they make all day.

There are a lot of kids in our community for whom that hot-meal at school is a reality. We have a wonderful school system, but we are also one of the poorer school districts in Stark County (OH). Lots of income disparity.

The NBA postponed their season. Sounds like some NHL teams will play in empty arenas but it also seems like the NHL is mulling over postponing their season as well. Most of the Pittsburgh area universities have gone remote.

Pretty crazy. If we did this for a year could we stop the flu too?

With a case in Stark County, I would expect things to escalate. Our response level at work changed when cases were found in Cuyahoga County. Though ultimately its likely in many areas across the country. Just not known at this point.

Closing K-12 schools will create a lot of problems for many people. You don't have scores of stay at home moms who can take care of kids. Snow days are often big problems. Going weeks off school will cause disruption. May need to happen (at least in certain areas). Having people get together to take care of kids will largely defeat the purpose.

And a lot of people staying home with kids will be trying to work themselves. Much tougher to do with younger kids. And there are jobs that just don't port well to home.

eightdotthree said:

Pretty crazy. If we did this for a year could we stop the flu too?

From a press conference by the WHO on March 5th:

"And fourth, we don’t even talk about containment for seasonal flu – it’s just not possible. But it is possible for COVID-19. We don’t do contact tracing for seasonal flu – but countries should do it for COVID-19, because it will prevent infections and save lives. Containment is possible.

To summarize, COVID-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick, it causes more severe illness than flu, there are not yet any vaccines or therapeutics, and it can be contained – which is why we must do everything we can to contain it. That’s why WHO recommends a comprehensive approach."

The answer appears to be no. This is not the flu nor should it be treated as such. Italy didn't take it seriously. They are overwhelmed. The fatality rate as of this morning in 6.6%. This is not the flu.

We need to be careful when we talk about mortality rate. When you divide the number of deaths by the number of confirmed cases, just remember that the denominator is almost certainly too low, since we don't know how many people are actually infected. Since the range of symptoms is so wide, there could be and probably are many people that don't feel ill enough to go to the doctor and get tested. Also, testing rates vary from nation to nation (the US is lagging behind). South Korea seems to have done a fairly decent job of testing its sick people, and the mortality rate there is hovering a little under 1%.

I was being facetious but we really don’t know what the mortality rate is. It is much lower in places where more extensive testing is being done.

We cancelled our cruise tomorrow, with Disney's generous and temporary policy. I was not worried about my safety on a half-empty ship going only to their private island, I was worried about the completely arbitrary and unclear policy of the federal government's travel restrictions. On one hand, you've got President Dip**** saying he doesn't want a ship with Americans docking in California because it'll skew the infection numbers, and on the other hand, you have a travel ban to Europe that excludes the busiest travel hub of Europe, London. None of these decisions are science based.

Yeah, I think you can survive having a bull***tter in the White House when things are otherwise going well, but when faced with a crisis--or potential crisis, depending on your personal level of alarm--it's important to have somebody that you can trust to be honest with the public, listen to experts, rely on science, and actually think about what the best course of action is.

Climate change is already a crisis, and the moron believes it's a hoax. We're not going to get those years of inaction back. Ask the US military... they've been saying for years that climate change is a threat to national security, starting with climate migration patterns destabilizing huge populations and sea level rise putting strategic assets worldwide at risk.

Now that it seems as though community spread has taken root in at least several pockets in the US, we're canceling our personal travel for the next few weeks. This isn't so much out of a concern for our own health (we are in our early 50s with no underlying health issues) but instead as a contribution to flattening the curve:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/science/coronavirus-curve-mitiga...ction.html

That chart really made the rounds in the last day or so. Posted here. Online and TV several times. Ohio used in their daily update yesterday. Makes a lot of sense in terms of easing the burden on the healthcare system which has limits (and still has to deal with its normal case loads).

Jeff said:

We cancelled our cruise tomorrow, with Disney's generous and temporary policy. I was not worried about my safety on a half-empty ship going only to their private island, I was worried about the completely arbitrary and unclear policy of the federal government's travel restrictions. On one hand, you've got President Dip**** saying he doesn't want a ship with Americans docking in California because it'll skew the infection numbers, and on the other hand, you have a travel ban to Europe that excludes the busiest travel hub of Europe, London. None of these decisions are science based.

Actually, if things don't get better soon, London may find itself included in the travel ban.

GoBucks89 said:

...and still has to deal with its normal case loads

Exactly. That's what bothers me about the people that say this is just like the flu. Even if that were true (which it doesn't appear to be), this is all in addition to the flu.

Don't be like Rudy Gobert.

Disneyland California closed.

And Universal Studios Hollywood